


The Old Man and The Tree

by Jessirar



Category: Original Work
Genre: Bugs & Insects, Eldritch, Gen, Horror, Other, Psychological Horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:33:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27427243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jessirar/pseuds/Jessirar
Summary: When Joanna keeps seeing a mysterious man in her daily life, she knows he is a bad omen. Determined to find him and confront whatever fate she has been dealt, she could never have prepared herself for the horror that unfolds.
Kudos: 1





	The Old Man and The Tree

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a short horror story. I have about 4 chapters planned out so far. The scariest thing about this, I think, is that it is based entirely on a terrifyingly realistic dream I had a few months ago. Creepy, eh?

The tree was massive, with a thick trunk that seemed to be encompassing some sort of house. Unlike the surrounding foliage it was dark, almost black, even in the scattered light shining from between its leaves. It had dark red sap seeping out from between the cracks in the bark. The house-or more of a shack, really-was old and decrepit, with gray splintered wood boards and a single broken window near the front door. The branches of the tree extended far out past the house, casting the clearing into darkness. 

As Joanna approached the clearing, she became increasingly wary. The hair on her arms was raised and she could feel sweat dripping down her back. The clearing was perfectly circular, only a smattering of unusual looking wildflowers around the outer edge. They were red, the same dark color as the sap on the tree. They seemed to be emanating a hazy smoke that rose in lazy circles towards the branches high above them. The normal sounds of a forest had begun to quiet a way back as Jo has approached this place. By now, standing just a few feet from the outermost flower, she could hear nothing except her own blood pounding in her head. Her breathing had become shallow and her heart rate had increased. It wasn’t the hike through the woods that had her winded, it was the thick eerie feeling that smothered this place like a wool blanket. It was suffocating, and left Jo with the same sweaty and itchy feeling that her dear Aunt Nora’s homemade gifts always did. Realizing this was her body initiating her flight or fight response, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Her sense of dread only seemed to increase. Determined to finish this wild goose chase, she forced her heavy legs forward as she trudged on through the barrier of flowers. Careful not to touch any, and trying not to breathe in the smoke, she stepped into the clearing.

Jo slowly walked up to the old house. She was certain this is the only place the man could have went. As she approached, she heard a strange sound. Somewhere between screaming and buzzing, a swarm of flies looped over tv static and radio feedback. It made her teeth itch, and she couldn’t tell if she was hearing it with her ears, or if it was being filtered straight into her mind. She paused in her approach and closed her eyes for a moment, shaking her head as if that would help get the sound out. When she opened her eyes again mere seconds later, the man was there. 

Standing in the doorway, he was facing her. Jo’s stomach dropped and she was momentarily frozen with fear. This was who she had came for. The man from her dreams, her nightmares, her visions. He had been haunting her for days now. Always on the corner of her sight, right on the peripheral. His presence was always ominous, and she knew he signaled something terrible for her. He had been showing her clues to help her find her way here. Visions of a dirt road, a barely-there path in the woods, the outer edge of the clearing. Seeing him now, while she was awake, was unnerving. 

She was still about 20 yards out, and the man looked exceedingly ordinary to her. He was old, with a wrinkled face and white hair. A red sweater vest over a white long-sleeve shirt and khakis. He could have been any of her high school teachers. Except, she didn’t remember any of her teachers having big gaping holes where their eyes should have been. She also didn’t remember feeling like bugs were crawling all over her when her teachers looked at her either. (Well, maybe her gym teacher)

Time seemed to snap back into full speed as Jo came out of her momentary fear. The man had already turned and walked into the house. Jo started after him, increasing her speed as much as she dared to try and catch up to him. Once she reached the house, she pushed the cracked door open wider and peered inside. Not seeing any immediate danger, she stepped in. 

There was a table with one leg missing and no chairs to the right of her. An old hearth and the singular window to her left. Straight ahead, a staircase came down from the left, with a wall hiding what was beyond the halfway point. This is where she saw the man again, disappearing up the stairs. She looked behind her and saw nothing but the same darkened clearing she had just come from. She was reluctant to follow the man any further. She had had an ever-increasing sense of doom ever since she stepped off the bus in this little Podunk town and began her hike up into the mountains. She knew that she could never rest until she figured out what he wanted though. She wouldn’t be able to sleep until she saw this through to the end. 

Heaving a great sigh, Jo turned back towards the staircase and walked toward it. She put her hand on the banister and leaned over to look up the stairs. She saw the man disappear around the corner at the top of the landing. Jo began her ascent-the small staircase feeling much like Everest. When she reached the landing, she let out a gasp.

She had expected rooms, a hallway, more stairs. What she saw to her left was a hole in the wall. Well, it was really a hole in the tree. It looked as though a hole had been hacked into the trunk of the great tree. All Jo could see in it was an inky blackness, illuminated sporadically by bioluminescent fungus that glowed with a sickly-looking shade of yellow. She could tell by the faint light that the hole seemed to slope downwards. The darkness inside seemed to be alive, seemed to move as she peered into it. There was nowhere else the man could have gone, and nowhere else for her to go. Jo swallowed her fear and grabbed a hair tie out of her jeans pocket. She tied her ebony hair up in a ponytail and stepped into the tree.


End file.
